Better Late Than Never: An Exclusive With Noetic On Split Decision

“Making music is the closest thing to magic,” says Midwestern recording artist Noetic over the phone. The 24-year-old Cleveland rapper has only been in the game for a couple of months, and he’s already making moves with his music. However, the artist isn’t “really sold onto the name Noetic,” he said to HangTime. When he first recorded a song he was asked what the file should be named, and it just so happened the word of the day was noetic. “That was back in like…2012.”

Within the past year, Noetic discovered the reality behind the process of making music while working on Split Decision. The recently launched mixtape conceptualizes on the idea on the current state of hip hop and the internal battles Noetic has when trying to decide what type of artist he wants to be. It’s no foreign topic to rappers alike establishing themselves in a nit-picky industry, especially with roaring questions like “what is real rap?”

When he first started out, Noetic considered himself to be a rap purest, spitting all bars straights truths, just “respecting the craft.” He looks up to old-time rappers like Nas because of his lyricism and ability to “paint a picture with rap.” Noetic is also drawn to artists like King Los, Anderson .Paak and Nero because of their production style and sonic arts. Of the many artists Noetic looks up to currently, Chance the Rapper is at the top of his list, and even hopes to work with him in the near future. He feels that Chance is what made rappers likable. “Before Drake, rap was perceived to be hyper masculine,” Noetic explains. “Because of groups like G-Unit, rappers were seen as hard or tough and I want people to see me as fun and carefree.”

Noetic wrote his “first little rap” in middle school. Now he’s working 10-hour shifts and digging for beats during his lunch break. The first song on this project, “Better Late” featuring Lili K, is a great representation of how the conceptual idea of a split decision flipped on its own. “It’s better late than never…you know?” In 5 years, Noetic sees himself opening a show on someone’s tour and generating some money from his music, enough to pay his bills and keep doing what he’s doing.

Split Decision was created from parts of a pile of loosely written notes. For Noetic, lyrics came first and then the beats. “I’ll go through 200 beats to find just one.” You could imagine how long it must have been to continuously dig through SoundCloud profiles like Soulection. The project features other talented artists including J.I.D, Elhae, Jean Deaux, Aaron James, Lili K, and Tek.lun.

Even though Noetic has only been publicly releasing music for about 7 months, it feels like we’ve been listening to him for ever. His sounds are futuristic, and it’s because he doesn’t go for “no cookie cutter rap beat.”

You can listen to Noetic’s Split Decision on SoundCloud and follow him on Instagram and Twitter.